• Sharp divisions over chemical plant security measure

    Those who opposed the original Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) continue to oppose it — and for the very same reasons: they argue it does not go far enough to assure the security of chemical plants in the United States; they point out the versions of the bill approved by House and Senate committees prevent DHS from requiring specific security measures; fail to require safer and more secure chemical processes; exempts thousands of potentially high risk chemical and port facilities, including approximately 2,400 water treatment facilities and 400-600 port facilities, including 125 of 150 U.S. refineries; and prevents plant employees from participating in assessing vulnerabilities and developing security plans

  • Universal Detection to supply Singapore with biological detectors

    Universal Detection Technology announced that earlier this week it had won a tender to supply Singapore’s Civil Defense Force with biological weapon detection equipment; under the deal Universal Detection, a developer of early-warning monitoring technologies, will provide equipment capable of detecting biological agents like Anthrax, Ricin, Botulinum, Plague, and Tularemia

  • Cybercrime statistics wildly inaccurate, says researcher

    A cybersecurity researcher is questioning the various statistics that government officials and IT companies use as evidence of the rampant and deleterious effects of hackers; Cormac Herley, a principal researcher at Microsoft Research, argues that the existing data on the estimated losses from cyberattacks is wildly inaccurate to the point that analysts have no idea what the problem’s economic impacts are; one expert, noting that estimates of the annual cost of cybercrime range from $560 million to $100 billion to $1 trillion, asks: “How can this be? How can you have estimates of the same problem ranging across three orders of magnitude?”

  • SIGA wins $433 million contract to boost nation's smallpox defense

    SIGA Technologies has won the latest round of its ongoing battle with Chimerix Inc. to supply government health officials with 1.7 million smallpox antiviral courses; on Monday, SIGA announced that Chimerix had withdrawn its protest over SIGA’s winning contract to supply the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) with 1.7 million courses of ST-246, a smallpox antiviral, to boost the nation’s stockpiles

  • Cyberattacks spark cyber insurance boom

    The recent spate of high profile cyberattacks on major corporations has sparked a rush for cyber security insurance; with companies and even local governments seeking financial protection from costly cyberattacks, insurance companies and analysts say demand has increased dramatically of late; some large companies have even taken out insurance policies worth as much as $200 million; local governments like Flathead County, Montana have also purchased cyber insurance

  • Study finds nearly 90 percent of businesses victim of cyber attacks

    A recent survey of information technology (IT) security professionals reveals that cyberattacks are on the rise and businesses have had difficulty defending their networks; 84 percent admitted to having been the victim of a cyber attack; these attacks have been costly causing a majority of companies an estimated $500,000 or more in lost revenues, cash outlays, business disruptions, and other expenses

  • High tech more effective than tax climate in driving states' economic growth

    Race-to-the-top policies are generally defined as those involving investments in education, entrepreneurship, and infrastructure; race-to-the-bottom policies involve competition among the states for jobs by using lower taxes and industrial recruitment incentives; researchers find that states with more technology classes in school, higher domain name registrations, and more people online tended to economically outperform states with a lower emphasis on technology

  • CACI International to acquire Pangia Technologies

    Last Monday CACI said that they had reached a definitive agreement with Pangia, a software engineering firm that develops solutions for computer network operations, information assurance, mission systems, and IT infrastructure support; the move will expand CACI’s cybersecurity capabilities and bolster its presence among the U.S. intelligence community

  • Homeland security market in India projected to double

    India’s homeland security market is projected to double by 2018, growing to $16 billion; the total market value is comprised of government spending as well as private sector expenditures and some export demand; the homeland security market is expected to expand to $13 billion by 2014 creating significant opportunities for the private sector to provide government needs

  • Weather variations cost U.S. $485 billion a year

    New research finds that routine weather events such as rain and cooler-than-average days can add up to an annual economic impact of as much as $485 billion in the United States; the study found that finance, manufacturing, agriculture, and every other sector of the economy is sensitive to changes in the weather, and that the impact of routine weather variations on the economy is as much as 3.4 percent of U.S. gross domestic product

  • New commuting method: Personal Aerial Vehicles

    Researchers in Germany have an idea for solving the growing congestions in urban centers: a Personal Aerial Vehicles (PAVs) for traveling between homes and working places; the PAVs will fly at low altitude in urban environments, thus making it unnecessary to change current air-traffic control regulations

  • Digital Barriers acquires Zimiti, expands homeland security capabilities

    Digital Barriers, an international homeland security and defense firm based in the United Kingdom, recently acquired Zimiti Ltd for £1.5 million, or roughly $2.5 million; the acquisition gives Digital Barriers access to Zimit’s Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS) technology which is aimed at expanding Digital Barriers’ reach in the including border control, critical infrastructure protection, and defense markets

  • Ceramic armor receives development prize

    New ceramic armor has many advantages: currently the ceramic composite offers a 30 percent weight saving compared with an armor plate of the same size made of alumina ceramics and is 15 percent lighter than another widely used ceramic armor, silicon carbide; it also requires a much lower furnace temperature meaning less energy is used and less CO2 is produced in manufacture, making it an environmentally-friendly product

  • Brazilian bank explores online biometric ID

    Bradesco, one of Brazil’s largest banking and insurance companies, is studying if it can identify account holders online using biometrics to ensure the safest transactions possible; the bank is currently working with Fujitsu to develop a device that is capable of identifying customers at home; the bank currently uses Fujitsu’s PalmSecure biometric palm reader in its ATMs

  • Strong 1Q growth for U.S. solar power, more expected

    The United States showed strong first quarter growth in solar panel capacity, increasing installations by 66 percent; the increase in solar capacity is due largely to falling panel prices and developers taking advantage of government incentives that were set to expire in 2010; analysts expect solar panel growth to increase throughout the year